Lion-O's trails
by phillip.madsen.52
Summary: Lion-O has to go through trial's to prove that he is still worthy of being leader of the ThunderCats.


Between Two (Number, right?) Brothers

Ah. I don't need a blasted nursemaid," Pathura mumbled sourly.

"How you holding up?" asked Lion-O.

"You know what I will miss the most? The scars. Lots of history on those arms. The saddest part of this mess is that I am never going to see my own arms again ever."

You're going to be okay. I know this. But now you need to get some rest..."

"Few could have ever faced what you did and come out, Lion-o."

As they came around the Panthro and Lion-O saw Cheetara and Tygra kissing in each other's arms. For Lion-O, this changes.

Panthro cleared his throat to garner their attention. Cheetara and Tygra broke apart quickly, a small blush on their faces. They walked up quickly to Lion-O and Panthro to give their report.

"Another battalion has now surrendered. We need to keep up the pressure now if we are going to win this and find the stones as well."

"This doesn't make any sense to me Cheetara," Lion-O replied sharply.

"Do you have a different plan for us to use then? Because if you do, Lion-O, let use all in on it," Cheetara replied sourly.

"No, I don't have a different plan, since I have not been talking about the Lizards at all. What I am now talking about is what I saw you and Tygra doing last night alone. Kissing each other," he explained, his eyes dark. "I mean you have been following me everywhere since I was still at the Palace. Now you even still follow me into all of this. I see your eyes look at me and every time your eyes look towards me I started to think you had feelings for me. I have gone over it a thousand times in my mind… I still have never been able to figure it out or understand how I could have misread all of your signals…" he trailed off, his expression hurt beyond measure.

You told me that when you saw us kissing you were okay with Tygra and me," she argued back.

"Yes, I know what I said and told you …but what I told you was for you to hear, and not what you probably wanted to hear from me. So I told you it was good to see you two together now. I guess I was kidding myself then, and I still am now when I tell you this."

"How could you tell me this now? You're telling me you have feelings for me Lion-o? Is that it?" Cheetara was furious.

"Cheetara, I could just tell you again that everything is going to be fine between you and me, but I guess I was wrong. I just wish it was true. But I now think it's not. For me, every time I ever turned around your eyes were on me. You follow me everywhere, like you're trying to protect me for something I am not supposed to even know about now. So now I know why you have followed me everywhere likes this, even into battle every time as well. It's been just all because Jaga asked you to watch over me. Then all of those things you said… about seeing something special in me…that was just part of your job?" he spat out.

"Of course not! I believe in you with all my heart, Lion-o. But that is all. My heart has for a long time belonged to someone else now." Cheetara turned towards Tygra, smiling. "It never is going to change the relationship at all between us, ever. I will always be at your side when you need me. If it means I follow you into all of this each time we battle, then so be it. I am sorry if I was misleading you, or about what I said to you."

"Cheetara, it does. For you and me it changes everything now between us for good. In fact, you can tell the others that I am going to look for the rest of the stones now on my own. You and Tygra can go your own separate ways as well for all I care. If I see you or him ever following me into battle again, you two will then be fighting me. That goes for everyone else. So you can tell Tygra that if he even follows me for one minute at all I _will_ attack him."

Although Panthro and Tygra had been standing right next to Cheetara and Lion-O for the entire conversation, neither of them had been included. Nor had they interfered. Both were too stunned by Lion-O's words to say anything.

"Lion-O, you can't go your own way and leave the rest of use behind like this!"

"Just watch me."

* * *

The of Lion-O: Part 1

You fool! He had the Gauntlet with him still!" Mumm-ra screamed.

…_I am alive …? _Lion-O thought to himself.

"No, Lion-O. I'm afraid that you are very much dead now."

_Jaga…? Dead…? What you mean? __Are__ you saying that I have failed__?_

"Not yet, Lion-O. The spirit stone has now deemed you very worthy of another chance now…to walk among the living once again."

_But how is this possible__?__ I am underwater. __The l__ast thing I can remember is being pushed off the cliff by the mutants__, and t__hen falling into the water._

"For you it is not that simple. You have to make it through your first trial. Now go! You are going to have to earn this second chance that is given to you now."

_What are you talking about__? E__arning__? T__his time__? Am I__ dead or not?_

"Lion-O, you are very much dead, as I told you. But for you to earn your second life among the living, you have to pass three trials for you to earn it…"

"Ouch!" Lion-O cried as he suddenly found himself flat as a pancake on the ground, where moments before he had been floating in an endless watery wasteland.

"Well you sure seem to have taken the hard way down, Lion-O." Cheetara was standing over him, staring down at him with a smirk on her face.

"Well, I didn't see an easier one to take."

"For every hard path there is an easier one to follow, you just have to find it is all…but that's also if you remember how you got us all caught the first time. Before you were pushed off the cliff and into the water."

"I thought taking the mountain pass was the best way. You all know I can't ask the book to point us out an easier way. I was after the book and if I remember right, when we were talking before this happened to me, you said you believed in me and would follow me no matter what into anything now."

"But you know you're the king; that doesn't mean you couldn't have found us a way that was lot easier than the mountain passes."

"So that means if you want to win this trial, you had better make sure you choose very wisely then. There's only one way to out of this maze and you have to find it before I do. _And_ get the key as well before me."

* * *

The Trials of Lion-O: Part 2

I don't like it. But you're the King now and it's your call. There is an air shaft on the north side. Very dangerous to get to it. As well, we have to get through all the Lizards now to get down there," Panthro murmured, not liking their options.

"Are you okay?" Cheetara asked him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Tygra sighed. "The sad part of all of this now for me is that I always told him I'm the one who should be king, not him. I never wanted it to happen this way… But it's too late for that now. He's gone and I have to at least get the Sword of Omens back if it's the last thing I ever do. But I can't think about him now, I must get the Sword back if I am going to be king then," he said, his jaws and fists tightly clenched.

"Tygra, I know that you have always been against your brother in getting the Sword ever since that day. But you can't let that get to you if we are going to complete the mission he set out for us to do then. Lion-O is gone now Tygra. So don't let your grief consume you. You're the king now, and we have to follow you just as we followed him every time since we left Thundera."

"Cheetara, I have thought about what was wrong with him. When I finally realized that when I asked you what was wrong with him then, you just stared at me. But I now know that it was because he never truly was okay, with you and I being together now."

"If you knew this then why didn't you say something to me Tygra? Why let me still think you didn't know anything was wrong between him and me. Why?"

"Why? I'll tell you why, Cheetara. It's because I heard what you told him: that your job was to always look out for him and protect him, like Jaga asked you to do. The sad part about it is that I always got in the way of you doing your job to help and protect him. You had faith in him when no one else would…not even me. I'm his brother, and now I fear that I have never been a brother to him."

"Lion-O is dead not because of you Tygra, but because of me. I am the reason he is dead now. Not you." Looking away from Tygra now she ran to help Panthro fight the lizards at the base of the Temple.

"Hey! What do you mean it's your fault he is dead?!" Tygra shouted, running after her to assist her.

"He told me that he never got over you and mea being together now. Said that things now between him and me have changed for good."

"What? What is that supposed to mean...?" Tygra asked, confused, as they ran.

"It means that if he was still alive, we would not be welcome with him anymore on this quest to find the stones, Tygra. In fact, I think that was what he wanted: to have nothing to do with you or me ever again. It's why when you came to ask me what was wrong with him. I had no way to tell you that it was what we talked about; him, you, and me. I just guess that he thought every time my eyes were looking at him, that I think he was thinking I had feelings for him. Which I never did, I told him. I told him that my heart belonged to someone else now; it always has, and always will. In a way I kind of knew that my heart was meant for you Tygra. It's a sad day for me; Jaga gave me the job of looking out for him and to protect him always."

"Are you telling me that every time I saw you kiss him or help him understand the sword that Jaga asked you to do this?"

"Yes, that's right. It was my job to look out for him at every turn and no matter what protect him at all costs too. I see I have failed in that now. Which also means that you never had anything to worry about at all, or would have had to be worry about anything happening between myself and Lion-O ever. You now have your wish that your brother is dead Tygra now."

Tygra pulled her aside, stopping midstride in the heat of battle. "Hold on Cheetara – that is not what I wanted for him. So don't you put this all on me for what has happened to him! He made this decision all on his own and we had nothing to do with what happened to him!" he shouted.

"You keep telling yourself this Tygra now. I still think that if you would have tried to help him out a little more and believe in him like I did, then he might of not have been so set on making us go up the mountain pass then," she replied, her words bitter.

"Well, if he had been more of a prince like father wanted him to be and less like a kid as well as acting like that, then I might have _maybe_ had faith in him more."

"You're not seeing my point, are you?"

"What's the point you're trying to make me understand then? I don't see what you're talking about."

"That is exactly what I am talking about! You've always been so negative towards me and him since the first day we left Thundera. In fact, I think this is what you wanted to happen to him all along now. If I didn't know you better, I would say you planned to let this happen to him and decided to just stand back and watch everything unfold." She stared at him, daring him to disagree.

"That's crazy Cheetara! It's even crazier that you think I would do this to him, my own brother! If I wanted this to happen it would have happened to him a lot sooner than now."

"So you admit it that you thought about doing this to him; killing your own brother from the first day? Is that it? Tell me I want to know Tygra!"

"Yes, that is _exactly_ what I have been thinking about every _day_ since we left Thundera. In fact, now that he is out of the way, you and I no longer have to worry about him getting in our way to love each other, now and forever. It also means that you and I can spend as much time together now as we want to. He never can come between us ever again."

"Well then you seem to have you wish. I just wish I had seen this sooner now that you have me. Lion-O is gone and I have no reason to think that he is going to come back now, thanks to you. I can also see now that I fell in love with the wrong cat after all. I always thought I was meant to be with you in my heart. That part was wrong. I thought my heart was telling me to be with you; instead it was telling me to be with Lion-O and not you. I will never get that chance now thanks to you Tygra…" Cheetara turned from him, her eyes moist with tears.

"What? You mean that you think he was right when he told me that you would have trouble deciding which one of use to pick? But you picked me. Is this your way of telling me you were wrong in that decision now? Yes or no."

"I don't know any more, okay...?" Cheetara sighed, hurriedly wiping at her face before turning back to Tygra. "I am sorry, but I think now we should worry more about getting the sword back than talking about you and me."

"Fine but this conversation is far from over, between you and me." He stomped off, seeing that Panthro had finished with his portion of Lizards.

"Fine then...but I warn you: if you try to bring it up at all during the rest of this mission, even once, and I will be making my decision based on this..." Cheetara warned him, anger and a hidden threat in her voice.

* * *

The Trials of Lion-O: Part 3

"You had the chance to redeem yourself and prove yourself to be worthy again to live. But you failed the chance you had been given to you by the spirit stone. You will never get another chance again Lion-O. I am sorry to say you are now to wonder the spirit realm forever," Jaga's ghostly imaged proclaimed in the large, empty chamber.

"Please…there must to be another way. My mission…he other cats…they _need_ me..." Lion-O desperately pleaded with him. "Mumm-Ra has taken them prisoner now. He has the Eye of Thundera and plans to unleash darkness upon the world... Why would you tell me this if there is nothing I can do to stop him now Jaga? Jaga, there has to be another way that you can send me back to help the others. I know I would give anything to be able to go back and help them now. Anything at all..." he dropped to his knees, his hands trembling.

"What could you have to give now to me now that you haven't already lost in your life...?"

Lion-O's head jerked up as he had an epiphany. "What about my soul?"

"That would be very foolish for you to do Lion-O. Why would you want to give your own soul up to save the other cats from Mumm-Ra? Why?" Jaga asked, curious." Your soul is the one thing that is more precious to you than anything in the world. Why would you give your soul to go back?"

"My soul is the only thing I have to give up now, and if it means I can save them and be able to see Cheetara one last time before I am to return to you, then so be it."

"What? Lion-O, the Lord of the ThunderCats is not supposed to fall in love, not even with Cheetara," he said, amused.

"Well, then it's your fault for making sure that she watched over me every day and protected me as best as she could..." he murmured, images flashing through his mind.

"How did you find this out now?" Jaga asked, now truly curious as to what his adopted daughter was up to.

"She told me that you told her to look out for me, all the time, no matter what."

"So she told you this. Then it's a mistake for you to go back now and help her, as well as to help the other cats out. You should stay right here then."

"I am the king, and if being a king means I have to sacrifice my life for my own people…then so be it. That as well means that I should be able to give up my soul as well for my people, to even if it's the last time I have to help them out. At least let me do this to save her then. So I at least know she is not in Mumm-ra's prison."

"Be foreworn... the spirit stone can return you to your body but only until sunrise. If you decide to spend your time in your body again wisely, then you can save your friends," Jaga decreed, seeing his former pupil's resolve.

"What happens to me then at sunrise?" Lion-O asked, looking up with hope in his eyes.

"Then your soul will return this world and enter limbo…where it will remain for ever and ever… for all of eternity."

He didn't waste a single moment. "Deal."

"Think about this wisely now…make sure you are really willing to make this decision for yourself…as well, are you sure you understand the consequences of your action and returning to your earthly body?" Lion-O nodded. "Very well then – so be it. I will return you then to your body to save your friends."

Back in the pyramid, the ThunderCats were helplessly imprisoned in one of Mumm-ra's cells. Tygra was pacing back and forth, nervous and anxious of the mummy's plans. "If Mumm-Ra does get his hands on the eye of Thundera, then we'll never be able to stop him. Not now or ever. I hate to say it but I really don't know what to do now Cheetara. It's my fault…you were right, Cheetara. If I had started to help him out and have faith in him like you did, then I know we would have never ended up in this mess in the first place, and we wouldn't be imprisoned right now…" he sighed.

"Are you saying that I am right about what I said then, or is this your way for you to just let me know that you're happy he is still gone now?" She leaned against the back wall, watching him slowly wear a groove into the floor.

"What I am trying to say now... is that I always question Lion-O's decisions. But I knew in the end we would always make it out in one piece."

Out in the corridors of the pyramid, three mutants were making their way towards the prison cells. "Eh. Everything for Mumm-Ra now…I don't like that he gets everything and we get nothing now..."

"Be careful that Mumm-Ra doesn't hear you saying that now. Or you're going to end up like the ThunderCats in a cage."

"What is he going to do to me that I haven't already been through?"

"Well, well. Hello Generals," a snarky voice said, surprising the three of them from behind.

"Lion-O? We saw you die!"

"Then your eyes must really be just as bad as your breath!"

"That's really brave talk coming from you when it's three against one and you're no match for any one of us – not without your sword to help you," he cackled.

"I take it you want to then do this the hard way now Slithe," Lion-O taunted him from inside the prison cell as the mutants slowly advanced towards him.

"Absol_utely_," Slithe cackled.

"Too bad for you then General – I would much rather do this the easy way." Lion-O easily vaulted over the mutants, and with a press of a button locked them in the cell. Running to another cell just down the way, he quickly pressed another button, freeing his fellow cats.

"It can't be…"

"Lion-o!" WilyKit exclaimed, running over to hug him. "I told you that he would come save us now…I told you Cheetara. I knew he would. But the others wouldn't believe me – that you would save us, I mean."

"Let me say that it's all thanks to you trouble makers now that I even made it here to come save you all," he replied, hugging the tiny cat back.

Panthro walked up a patted him on the back. "Very good to see you again, kid."

"How? How are you…?" Tygra stuttered.

Lion-O held up his hand for silence. "It's very long story and I would love to tell it to you all some time, but that is not the reason I came back to save you all…"

"What? You mean it was not because of us you came back…? Then why did you come to get us out if not for that reason?" Tygra asked him angrily.

"I came to get you all out so I could get the Sword of Omens back, Tygra…it's my main reason for coming to this place in." Lion-O turned to face him.

"Well then I see you haven't changed one bit at all Lion-O. You're still the same cat then."

"Well, yes and no, now."

"It's a suicide mission to even try to get the sword back from Mumm-Ra now…" Cheetara interjected quickly, summarizing the current situation.

"Well then maybe I should have just left you, Panthro, and everyone else locked up then. I am going to get the sword back or die trying. If I die, then I know I did it to make sure you all would be safe and that someone else hopefully would carry out this mission for me. Like I was thinking of you now, Tygra." He looked at him pointedly. "Listen…if all of you don't want to help me get the sword back that's fine. But I am going to try anyways…and if you all want to know the real reason I came back, it's this: it was so you, Cheetara, could be happy – even knowing that I am not really happy with you being with Tygra. As well, I only have until sunrise to get the sword back now. Can't waste my time asking you to all understand this. So I can understand now if you all decide to not follow me into there." Lion-O turned around, and began walking out of the prison cell when a large hand planted itself on his shoulder.

"We'd be willing to follow you anywhere, Your Majesty."

In a laboratory deep in the pyramid, Mumm-ra was just about to claim the Sword of Omens for himself. "General, if you don't mind, would you please…?"

"My pleasure, my King."

"Mumm-Ra, I think you have something that belongs to me and I want it back. And without it, you're never going to be a match for me, let alone or defeat me!" Lion-O shouted, running into the room with all of the ThunderCats behind him.

"I think it's time you told us all what happened to you," Cheetara asked Lion-O as he stood looking at the sun rising quickly in the east.

"I'm sorry, but I have to leave you all now."

"What you mean you have to leave us?" WilyKit and WilyKat whined, looking confused.

"Lion-O, what is going on now? You're not making any kind of sense…" Cheetara asked him worriedly.

"Because he decided to make the ultimate price," a deep voice suddenly boomed as a vision of Jaga appeared in front of them.

"Sunrise now. I guess it's time for me to leave," Lion-O murmured.

"What's he talking about Lion-O?" Tygra demanded.

"Tygra, I made a deal to give up my soul, that I could come back to save you all…" he finally admitted.

"Why?! What would make you agree to a deal like that?" Tygra shouted.

"I know you will never understand what I am talking about Tygra. But I can only hope Cheetara will understand what I mean. At least you all should now know the truth of why I came back. I did it to save you all, but mostly to save you Cheetara from having to stay in that place forever."

"Let me get this straight; you made a deal to give up your own soul just to come back to get the sword and save us. But why would you do that, and why would you save us if all that mattered to you was the sword?" Cheetara asked him, confused.

"I knew you all would never understand if I told you any of what happened to me. I only had two purposes: to see Cheetara again, and get the sword back."

"You mean you were willing to sacrifice your soul to save us all, but to mostly save me Lion-O? Why?" she said, finally realizing to the extent of the sacrifice her king had made for her.

"I guess I wanted to make sure you would be okay. And to see that you one more time before I was to leave you all again," he told her, finally turning around to look upon his friends one last time." If you have to say anything to me now, Tygra, let's hear it before it's too late for me."

"How could you do this?! I mean, how the hell could you think that she of all people would want to see you again after the way you treated her last time, huh?" Tygra snapped, seeing the calm expression on Lion-O's face.

"If you must know, I came back to make sure that I got to do this just once to you now and see what you thought."

"Do what to me now?" Tygra taunted him.

"See how you like being hit in the face hard Tygra. As well as make sure that when I cut you with this sword it will be a deep cut that will never heal for you…"

In a flash, the two brothers were fighting. Both had their swords flashing in the early morning sun, both out for the blood of the other.

Cheetara and the others stood there for a long moment looking at the two of them fighting before one of them did something to stop it. WilyKit finally said, "Isn't anyone going to stop them from fighting? Or are we just going to stand here now and watch this...?"

Looking down now at Tygra, his brother can see the deep cuts in his sides and chest area. Lion-O turned to Cheetara then. "There you go. You can have him all to yourself now. I hope you two will be very happy together, and if I don't have to go back, I never want to see you or him following me ever again Cheetara or you're going to end up like this too."

"How could you do this to your own brother Lion-O?" Cheetara cried as she ran to Tygra, checking on his wounds.

"He is not my real brother at all Cheetara. He was adopted, and that is all he will ever be to me is my adopted brother. Nothing more than that. Now if you all don't mind now I am going to find the next stone without you all… And don't any of you try to follow me. That includes you, Cheetara, since I know that your heart belongs to him."

"You won't be able to survive on your own without any one of us to help you," Tygra spat from the ground as Cheetara assisted him into a sitting position.

Lion-O ignored his comment. "Oh, and by the way Tygra, you can have the Sword of Omens as well to now. In fact, you wanted it so much…here, take it." He took the sword and gauntlet and threw them to his feet. "I want nothing to do with you, Tygra, or you, Cheetara, ever again. Anita was right; my brother would betray me. I should have listened to him. I didn't before, but now I am going to. So what I did to you now, my brother, is only asampling; you'll get a lot worse if you try to stop me or follow me Tygra. Cheetara, I don't want to hurt you, but if you try to stop me then you'll leave me with no other choice."

Lion-O walked away from the others, knowing not to look back at them.

"Lion-O, come back! We're not finished, you and me!" Cheetara yelled out at him.

He paid no attention to her yelling to him. He just kept walking away from her and the all rest of the ThunderCats. But soon he turned and said one last and final thing to Cheetara: "You're dead to me."

To Tygra, he said, "Tygra, it's better than having to listen to you tell me that every decision I make is the wrong one, or knowing that all I am for Cheetara is some kind of job that she was asked to do."

"What did you say about her now? I want to hear you say that; I dare you to say it again."

"Fine. I am only a job for Cheetara."

"Is what he just said true? Cheetara?"

"Yes, what he said is true…"

"How could you? Who asked you to treat him like this?"

"Jaga is the one that told me to always look after Lion-O and to make sure he was safe and protected and only to think of it as my job…"

"See? I told you, and you thought I was wrong about it…"

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you Lion-O, until now."

"Hey, it's okay – you two have one another now, and that is the only thing that seems to matter to her. Nothing more than that. So if you don't mind, I will be going then."

Looking at Tygra, Panthro, WilyKit, WilyKat, and not even looking at Cheetara, Lion-O said, "Thanks for all your help, but I think I should finish this mission of finding the stones on my own now everyone." Then walked up to his brother, Tygra. "Here – you should have the sword more than me now…look after everyone please and keep them safe."

"What are you going to do now?"

"I am going to head back to Thundera and try to figure out where I went wrong in my life. As well to see what I could have done different or I may just wander the world for a while…alone, like I always have."

Lion-O turned to each one of them in turn. "If you want to come along with me, Tygra that's up to you, but do not bring her along with you. For if you do, I don't want you coming at all. WilyKit, WilyKat, it's your decision if you want to come with me, but be forewarned you do not ask Cheetara to come with you either. General, you will be always welcome with me. But if you come, please don't bring anyone else, or her, as well. So if you all decide to come, she then doesn't come with us ever again. That's the deal."


End file.
